Speaker 1: It's with Jenny Garth and Tori Spelling. Today, you guys,
Speaker 1: we have an exciting Nino to one on one we
Speaker 1: have with us Uh, the actor who portrayed Jordan Bonner,
Speaker 1: who was Andrea's love interest, to name one of his
Speaker 1: roles on the show, UM, played by Michael Anthony rawlins.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at this um head shot of Michael and
Speaker 1: he is so handsome. Yes he is. I'll take that.
Speaker 1: Oh high. You can hear us, I can hear just fine,
Speaker 1: I can see you just fine. First of all, let
Speaker 1: me make a toast. Oh time, Where are you right now?
Speaker 1: I'm in my living room? But where I'm in l A?
Speaker 1: Are you in l A? I is gonna say it's
Speaker 1: five o'clock somewhere. But okay, this is actually a prop
Speaker 1: but it looks like water actually doesn't like a good prop. Um.
Speaker 1: But let that not put a damper on the cheers.
Speaker 1: I just want to make a touch to the original
Speaker 1: nine O two one O G crew. Hey, cheers, cheers.
Speaker 1: So nice to have a little drink of water with you. Yes,
Speaker 1: that was water too. We UM were thrilled to have
Speaker 1: you here because you started on our show when you
Speaker 1: were young, just like us, and you've gone to have
Speaker 1: this great, really fruitful career doing so many great roles
Speaker 1: on television and films, and it's just nice to see that.
Speaker 1: You know, thank you, thank you. When you start this journey,
Speaker 1: you never know where it's gonna lead to. So m
Speaker 1: just be able to stay in the game and have
Speaker 1: some longevity is uh beautiful thing. So what was the
Speaker 1: tell it talk us through the process of when you
Speaker 1: audition you got the part of Jordan's Bonner because you
Speaker 1: had already done like episodes of TV for other shows, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had some. I've done some other shows, but nothing
Speaker 1: that had the profile of your show. Like I remember
Speaker 1: that season three, if I'm not mistaken, weren't you all
Speaker 1: to recover sial boxes? We had a sereal box. Yes,
Speaker 1: it was crazy, honey, shrunk my own h what's the
Speaker 1: one with the banney cheerio is with the b and
Speaker 1: we did a commercial we were on Yeah. Um, so
Speaker 1: it was definitely the highest profile GA that I had
Speaker 1: booked to that point. And I remember when I got
Speaker 1: the audition, I got the call back and I went
Speaker 1: in and I think Jack Bender was the direct there
Speaker 1: of the first episode because I was always supposed to
Speaker 1: do one wow, and it ended up being six episodes, right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and uh, he gave me an adjustment in the callback,
Speaker 1: I think he said. I think he said, just bring
Speaker 1: it down because the way I was reading Jordan is
Speaker 1: he was upset with the way his high school had
Speaker 1: been depicted as a high school that was in the hood.
Speaker 1: And uh, I brought it down. He said, thank you.
Speaker 1: And I remember getting a call from my manager a
Speaker 1: couple hours later and she said, okay, you're You're on
Speaker 1: the short list, but you have to be approved by
Speaker 1: Aaron Spelling himself. And I was like, really, I'm going
Speaker 1: to be united by Aaron Spelling? What? And then she
Speaker 1: called back, I think it was that night or earlier
Speaker 1: the next day, and said I had to roll. So
Speaker 1: were you so excited, like like, that's a good call
Speaker 1: to get no matter what show it's on, it was.
Speaker 1: It was exciting my I think my manager was standing
Speaker 1: at my My manager at the time was really cool.
Speaker 1: I think it was the first time I saw her
Speaker 1: actually get up and like jump around in her office.
Speaker 1: Even then, once you got the part, you still thought
Speaker 1: it was for one episode or did they know then
Speaker 1: they were no, they didn't don't know that until after
Speaker 1: we shot. It was in the camp. Then my agent
Speaker 1: called and said, yeah, they're bringing you back, and it
Speaker 1: was gonna be um, but they ended up being six.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you guys know this, but
Speaker 1: they were actually talking about bringing me back the following season.
Speaker 1: So one day I came to set and you know,
Speaker 1: Gabrielle and I were dating on the show, and she
Speaker 1: came up to me. She said, hey, Michael, and she
Speaker 1: was kind of somber, and I was like, hey, Gabby,
Speaker 1: what's up. She said, I gotta tell you something. I said,
Speaker 1: what she goes on pregnant. I said, congratulations, and she
Speaker 1: said yeah, they don't want you to be the father.
Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, so they're gonna write it
Speaker 1: into the show. She's like yeah, And I said, okay, Hey,
Speaker 1: it's nice stopped me gap my career by good luck
Speaker 1: with your baby, right so, And I think that was
Speaker 1: around the I'm not sure wearing a season. I think
Speaker 1: it was like the fourth and fifth episode. So I
Speaker 1: knew that any top of me coming back the phone
Speaker 1: the season, that's a that's a bad break right there.
Speaker 1: You got dealta a dud deal because the baby into
Speaker 1: the show, like they used her pregnant. See that's right,
Speaker 1: that's right. And Jesse I think his name was Jesse, Yes,
Speaker 1: the character. Yeah, yes, you know, all my friends are like, dude,
Speaker 1: that could have been you. I was like, I know,
Speaker 1: leave me alone. I'm going to be crying. I loved
Speaker 1: the character of Jordan Bonner, Like, yeah, we all the
Speaker 1: character of Jesse was cool, but like that would have
Speaker 1: been really cool, like to continue that storyline and you're
Speaker 1: the father and to to focus on you know what
Speaker 1: you did so beautifully already for the show. What's such
Speaker 1: an important pivotal role on the show by you know,
Speaker 1: sort of representing all the the racial inequities that were
Speaker 1: happening in in the you know, the storylines at that time.
Speaker 1: You you played all of that so beautifully, and it
Speaker 1: would have been so impressive to like expand that and
Speaker 1: let that. Yeah, that would lay out great story and
Speaker 1: no offense to gap. But I can't. That's kind of
Speaker 1: shocking that she delivered that information, right, Yeah, I'm like
Speaker 1: outside the makeup trailer probably like like yes, I think
Speaker 1: we're in the sound stage, but you know, Daddy and
Speaker 1: I actually stayed in touch over the years, and I
Speaker 1: think because we were dating on the show, she felt
Speaker 1: like I think I remember saying something in the fact
Speaker 1: that I wanted you to hear it from me because
Speaker 1: you boyfriend and girlfriend on the show, and I know
Speaker 1: how this can, you know, affect someone, and I just
Speaker 1: wanted you to hear it from me. So I think
Speaker 1: she was it was like a caretaker thing for her
Speaker 1: and gotten to know her a little bit over the years.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen her now in a few years, but
Speaker 1: we would bump into each other and hook up. I've
Speaker 1: been to her home and her family. Um, that's who
Speaker 1: she is, you know. So it was unfortunate to hear.
Speaker 1: But I actually when they called me, when my rets
Speaker 1: called me to tell me, I was like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: kind of knew. They're like, why do you tell us?
Speaker 1: I was like, I was kind of hoping it wouldn't manifest,
Speaker 1: but you know, so, but these are the kinds of
Speaker 1: things that we deal with them, this crazy roller coaster
Speaker 1: called the Hollywood career. We we've had Gab on our
Speaker 1: show a couple of times now and we are very
Speaker 1: close with her, and she told us something that kind
Speaker 1: of rocked our worlds, which was, uh, that you guys
Speaker 1: were love interests. It was going somewhere, and we loved it.
Speaker 1: We were both Tory and I were both because we're
Speaker 1: watching the show back. So when that episode came out,
Speaker 1: you guys started to like flirt and you're both at
Speaker 1: the Yale party. We got getting really excited that that
Speaker 1: was about to happen. But she said that that the producers,
Speaker 1: when they started to go a different direction, they wouldn't
Speaker 1: even let you guys kiss, and she felt that it
Speaker 1: was a racial thing like that they weren't going to
Speaker 1: go there. And she told us that when we were
Speaker 1: doing pH now to know, she was like, there was
Speaker 1: a couple of things that happened that wouldn't have happened nowadays.
Speaker 1: But then it was like she wasn't allowed to wear
Speaker 1: a Jewish cross, she wasn't allowed to kiss the black man,
Speaker 1: Like yeah, she kept pointing things out that we were like, what,
Speaker 1: we didn't know this was happening at the time, right right.
Speaker 1: I remember her talking to me about the cross, sorry,
Speaker 1: not a Jewish cross. That made no sense coming from
Speaker 1: the Jewish girl here a Jewish star. She wasn't allowed
Speaker 1: to wear a Jewish star, she wasn't allowed to kiss
Speaker 1: the black Man on camera and it just blew our minds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it surprised me because to your dad was known as
Speaker 1: an innovator. I mean, I think, if I'm not mistaking
Speaker 1: in revitation for introducing the first situation a couple on TV,
Speaker 1: it was the mon Squad yapp So I was I
Speaker 1: was huge. He was so proud of that and wanted
Speaker 1: to always continue that. So all I could think of,
Speaker 1: And you know my dad, My dad was Jewish, so
Speaker 1: you would have loved a Jewish her on camera, like
Speaker 1: not just crosses and representing you out our our heritage.
Speaker 1: But like, I can only think that the network at
Speaker 1: the time just wasn't into it. It had to have
Speaker 1: been that, I wonder. I wish I could go back
Speaker 1: and ask my dad, like, what was the fight there?
Speaker 1: Which again those things because it was Fox and they
Speaker 1: were also known for beating breaking them all exactly. They
Speaker 1: brought us in a would be in color like they
Speaker 1: were the edgy new for network. It just makes no
Speaker 1: sense to us. Did we know so you heard that too? Yeah? Yeah, um,
Speaker 1: like was it actually in the script and then didn't
Speaker 1: happen or never even made it into the script? The kiss?
Speaker 1: I think I have my script somewhere because I remember
Speaker 1: asking you guys to sign them, so it's kind of
Speaker 1: keep safe for me that I've held on to. I
Speaker 1: don't remember seeing that in the script. I just remember
Speaker 1: Gabby when she stopped me to me, I saw her
Speaker 1: take off the cross like she got the cross, and
Speaker 1: we had a conversation about it. But I don't remember
Speaker 1: there being at kids, you know. I just I think
Speaker 1: the closest we got physically on the show was we
Speaker 1: actually held hands. I think that's the closest we got
Speaker 1: on the show, and we I think in a couple
Speaker 1: of scenes we were standing show on the shoulder, but
Speaker 1: nothing remotely over. Wow. Yeah, if you could go back
Speaker 1: in time, what would you tell the writers and the
Speaker 1: producers if you had, if you had the opportunity, I
Speaker 1: would say, let's be ahead of the diversity postion to
Speaker 1: do it now, you know, um, be on the forefront. Uh.
Speaker 1: It was what you know, it wasn't so outside the
Speaker 1: box to have inter racial people dating at that time,
Speaker 1: you know, to your dad had already done it in
Speaker 1: the seventies. Yeah, so come on, guys, Yeah, you know none.
Speaker 1: Tuno was a young show. Your target demo was young
Speaker 1: if anybody's going to embrace that storyline, it would have
Speaker 1: been a youth. The youth is always leading the revolution,
Speaker 1: so I think it would have been embrace. I remember
Speaker 1: at the time though, that there was a lot of
Speaker 1: fan backlash with nine O, two and O because people
Speaker 1: are saying there's no diversity, it's an all white cast
Speaker 1: of main characters. And I remember my dad being so
Speaker 1: deeply hurt by that because that that was always his thing,
Speaker 1: Like he was so into diversity and pushing it and
Speaker 1: pushing the limits when it wasn't even done on TV, so,
Speaker 1: you know, and they kept saying it was you know,
Speaker 1: they never said like, oh, could it be you know,
Speaker 1: the network, it was always Aaron Spelling doesn't put people
Speaker 1: on the show, and it's like, that's not true. That's
Speaker 1: what they do, you know. The season before season two,
Speaker 1: I actually auditioned to play via Vivica Fox's brother for
Speaker 1: that family was Richard rown Tree. Right, Oh, that was
Speaker 1: the first time I read for the casting director whose
Speaker 1: name escapes me. You remember who cast the show? Was
Speaker 1: it Joanna right at the time, Jore No, it wasn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't read for Joe anyway. I think she did
Speaker 1: the original casting cast and came after. Anyway, I remember
Speaker 1: going in and uh, I read she brought me back
Speaker 1: for producers and then I didn't get it. But what
Speaker 1: I heard happened was that Richard Rowntree wanted more money
Speaker 1: if they were like they were supposed to recur they
Speaker 1: only ended up doing right, They inevitably wanted them, yeah,
Speaker 1: as to fold them into the main cast, right right.
Speaker 1: But from what I understand, Richard Rowntree wasn't getting the
Speaker 1: love he thought he deserved, and Spike he thought he deserved.
Speaker 1: And that's what torpedo that story. Like, I could be wrong,
Speaker 1: I think I agree with him the same, but that's
Speaker 1: what I understand. And so when I came back to
Speaker 1: read for season for the character in season three, I
Speaker 1: remember it was a guest star. So there were like
Speaker 1: four scenes. They were like twelve pages, and it was
Speaker 1: on a Monday, and I spent the weekend working on it.
Speaker 1: When I got there, the Castle rector said, so we're
Speaker 1: just gonna do one scene, and I was like, I
Speaker 1: hate right, and it still happens, But I was said
Speaker 1: to myself, I was having this internal battle and I
Speaker 1: was like, am I gonna stand up for myself right now,
Speaker 1: or am I just gonna do the scene? And I said,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, she picked the scene. It would be
Speaker 1: one thing if she said pick a scene and you
Speaker 1: could pick the scene that you thought best showcase your character.
Speaker 1: She picked the scene, and I said, her name is Diane.
Speaker 1: Her first name is Diane. It just came to me.
Speaker 1: I can't remember her last name, but she said, I said, Diane.
Speaker 1: I said, I think the character is better showcased in
Speaker 1: this scene and she said really. I said, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that's where the meat is. And she said, well,
Speaker 1: why don't you do the scene I asked you to do,
Speaker 1: and then if you do well, you can have the entree.
Speaker 1: And I was like, Earl, it's called Mike bluff, so
Speaker 1: I was about to have that coming either, so I
Speaker 1: didn't see she picked. She said, okay, Michael, you get
Speaker 1: your entrede today. See I wanted to do which is
Speaker 1: the scene where me and Brandon meet for the first time,
Speaker 1: And I thought that was clearly the best scene out
Speaker 1: of before. And I did it and she goes, I
Speaker 1: want you to come back and producers, and I came
Speaker 1: back and I got the role. But yeah, it's interesting
Speaker 1: just how I guess I was destined to be on
Speaker 1: the show because I have a vision for this. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm glad you you spoke up. That's not good to know.
Speaker 1: It's one of those moments in your career as an
Speaker 1: actor if you take a stand, if you're not afraid
Speaker 1: to take a stand, it cannot only make a change,
Speaker 1: but it empowers you. And you know, when you're starting
Speaker 1: off in this business and you've done a few things,
Speaker 1: but you haven't done a lot. You're trying to take
Speaker 1: your career to the next step, to the next level.
Speaker 1: It's moments like those that can end up defining your career,
Speaker 1: you know. And after that audition, I would walk in
Speaker 1: the room with much more confident and feel like I
Speaker 1: belong instead of doing my best work in the rear
Speaker 1: view mirror in my car the way home. Yes, yeah, wow,
Speaker 1: that's a good lesson for actors out there everywhere. Really
Speaker 1: find your voice when you need it for so short
Speaker 1: a period of time, so you know, take the Like
Speaker 1: that was the first time I took the room. As
Speaker 1: they say, because you are here in class, take the room.
Speaker 1: It's your time. Take the room. And I really hadn't
Speaker 1: felt like I've taken the room until that moment. That's
Speaker 1: when I took the room for the first time. I
Speaker 1: hope I ever have another audition, because I'm going to
Speaker 1: take the room. Take it. I've never taken a room
Speaker 1: in an audition. I'm the worst audition. I don't know
Speaker 1: about you, guys, but she always says that clearly not
Speaker 1: so much. So next time I'm thinking of you. Okay,
Speaker 1: was this one of those auditions have you ever had?
Speaker 1: I mean we've had them, Like the auditions where you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is my part, I'm getting it, and you do
Speaker 1: get it. You're like, see, I was right, I knew it,
Speaker 1: and the ones where they were like, amazing, do you
Speaker 1: want me to change anything? No, it was perfect. You're like,
Speaker 1: I'm not getting this, Like did you feel that when
Speaker 1: I when I left the callback, I felt like I
Speaker 1: had done a good job. But I've been doing it
Speaker 1: long enough to know that that really didn't mean anything
Speaker 1: because a lot of times when I feel like I
Speaker 1: hit it out of the park, crickets, when I stunk
Speaker 1: up the room. Yeah, they want a book, what exactly
Speaker 1: is There's no rhyme or reason. It's what they have
Speaker 1: in their minds, what they want and sometimes that that comes.
Speaker 1: That happens where some an actor comes in and changes
Speaker 1: their minds like you did that and that's awesome. Oh
Speaker 1: thank you, that's so good. So um, what is good you?
Speaker 1: What's going on for you now? Like tell us where
Speaker 1: you are and what you're doing? Tell you what's taking
Speaker 1: up the majority of my time right now? If you
Speaker 1: can see my T shirt, it says dead ever. So
Speaker 1: I have a fourteen year old who has followed in
Speaker 1: my footsteps. He actually wee last week just wrapped a
Speaker 1: movie called Heart of a Lion, which is a sony
Speaker 1: picture about the Xbox and champion George Foreman. Oh gosh, wow,
Speaker 1: yeah he George Foreman as a kid. That's amazing. It's
Speaker 1: being directed or was directed by George Tillman, who's known
Speaker 1: for Soul Food, They Hate You Give, Notorious b I G.
Speaker 1: And his mom is being played by Sonya son from
Speaker 1: The Wire and The Shy talk about intense. Um, so
Speaker 1: it's liked you better bring your a game because your
Speaker 1: mom don't play. Oh wow, were you nervous because you
Speaker 1: had to be with him on set? Right? Or did
Speaker 1: he have somebody else? I'm more nervous for him than
Speaker 1: he is for himself. You know, Um, when it's a
Speaker 1: big audition, I'm like, I'm the one that needs to
Speaker 1: calm down and breathe. He's fine. So you are what
Speaker 1: do they call it, what you're stage teach? Now? I
Speaker 1: guess I am, yeah, I mean, you know, he's uh.
Speaker 1: He started. We lived in Chicago for five years from
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen and that's where he really got started. He
Speaker 1: had an agent here in l A before we left,
Speaker 1: and he was auditioning a little bit, but when we
Speaker 1: got to Chicago he really took off. He started doing theater.
Speaker 1: He did uh Last Stop on Market Street, which is
Speaker 1: the world premiere in the Chicago Children's Theater. And he
Speaker 1: started on stage, interestingly enough, at the good Man in
Speaker 1: Chicago doing the four yeth anniversary at a Christmas Carol,
Speaker 1: and it was really surreal because he played. One of
Speaker 1: the roles he played was Turkey Boy, which is a
Speaker 1: little English kid that comes on at the end and
Speaker 1: has a scene with Scrooge. So you have to do
Speaker 1: a British accent. And I was born in one of England,
Speaker 1: so at that age I had that accent. So seeing
Speaker 1: the poor child on stage doing a British accent at
Speaker 1: the same age that you were when you had that accent.
Speaker 1: It was like it was one of those moments. I
Speaker 1: was just like, I got goose bumps. You're so proud.
Speaker 1: I love it. I am I and I'd be proud
Speaker 1: of him regardless. I mean, he just he just got
Speaker 1: an award. I think it's called the President's Award for
Speaker 1: Outstanding Achievement that I didn't even know existed, along with
Speaker 1: being a Distinguished Honished student for grade eight. Um, he's
Speaker 1: got a four point on g p A. I never
Speaker 1: had a four point I feel shamed right now. You're hilarious. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a good kid. I got lucky. He's a good kid.
Speaker 1: His name is Kai Katie I and he just goes
Speaker 1: by his first name. That's it. That's all he needs
Speaker 1: to go by. I love it. Wow, I'm kind gratulations.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I'm still in the game, you know, I'm still,
Speaker 1: like most of the rank and file members of the
Speaker 1: screen actors, still playing the auditional game. I had one
Speaker 1: today actually, and my son, ensuring Love, had an audition
Speaker 1: for nine one one two. It's do tomorrow and it's
Speaker 1: for the same episode. But we don't we don't have
Speaker 1: any scenes together. Oh that'd be really fun if you
Speaker 1: got it. Like one of these days, can we just
Speaker 1: work together? Are you auditioning from your home like we
Speaker 1: all are? Will we ever, Jenny, will we ever get
Speaker 1: to go in the room and actually take the wak
Speaker 1: the room. I think it's gonna be a lot easier
Speaker 1: for me to take my living room than their office room.
Speaker 1: So I'm happy with the way. Yeah, so happy about
Speaker 1: self tapes because I was like, oh good, I don't
Speaker 1: have to worry about the nerves are screwing up, Like
Speaker 1: I'll actually just do good work. But I missed the
Speaker 1: room a little bit. I missed the power, you know,
Speaker 1: like seeing people respond and laugh, the energy laugh like
Speaker 1: you know something exactly. Yeah, I feel the same as you, Tori.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I like you like the control. Like I've
Speaker 1: been doing some writing and directing two of short films
Speaker 1: and some of them have been in festivals, one won
Speaker 1: one an award, And so if you have aspirations beyond acting,
Speaker 1: you love the control of your audition. But I told myself,
Speaker 1: I said, you know, I don't know. I think self
Speaker 1: taping is here to stay. I mean, we were doing
Speaker 1: it before COVID, but I think it's here to stay
Speaker 1: in a bigger way. But I think if you're like
Speaker 1: shortlisted for a series or leading the film, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to go in the room. You know, let's help. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: And I said, don't get too comfortable, because I think
Speaker 1: at some point down the road it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: mix of the two where you're going in the room.
Speaker 1: Sometimes the self tape like a hybrid. Yeah, I like
Speaker 1: a hybrid exactly. And going in the room is it's uh,
Speaker 1: especially I haven't done in a while. You know, we
Speaker 1: can be I'm anticipating like having dry mouths. You know,
Speaker 1: you get cotton mouths when you're really nervous, when you
Speaker 1: can't talk. But the energy, I think is what we
Speaker 1: all missed the most. You know. It's like doing theater,
Speaker 1: that energy you get. Like when we moved to Chicago,
Speaker 1: I hadn't done theater in six years, and the first
Speaker 1: show I was so nervous in the wings. Like when
Speaker 1: I was younger doing theater, they would hold me back
Speaker 1: in the wings to go, you're not on yet, flow
Speaker 1: your role, And now doing theater all these years later,
Speaker 1: they're like, you know that's your cue. Go, So yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of looking forward to going back in the
Speaker 1: room sometimes, but I think I like the kind of
Speaker 1: hybrid situation that we're in now. You know, sometimes you're
Speaker 1: at home sometimes during the room, So I guess you
Speaker 1: have to wait and see how you get it. Yea,
Speaker 1: m m. So Jordan was on the show for six episodes,
Speaker 1: which for recurring like that was a big deal, like
Speaker 1: six episodes, and do you feel like, what was like
Speaker 1: do you still get recognized as Jordan Bonner? And back then,
Speaker 1: what was it like when people like when he became
Speaker 1: so big on the show, what was it like the
Speaker 1: fan reaction when you would go out, I got recognized
Speaker 1: for some We did that so probably through like two
Speaker 1: thousands and early two thousand's, I would say, I mean
Speaker 1: early twenty tenths, like for a long time, and people,
Speaker 1: you know, nine two and oh fans were rabid, so
Speaker 1: they would be like Jordan Bonner, hands up, and it
Speaker 1: was and they would tell you about the episode or
Speaker 1: one of the six episodes and give you the storyline
Speaker 1: like they were serious. And it was like that for
Speaker 1: at least twenty years after doing the show. It's just
Speaker 1: the last few years and you know, I am proudly
Speaker 1: bald now, so I'm not rocking the flattop anymore. So
Speaker 1: it's kind and I have facial hair that's gray, so
Speaker 1: if I shave it, though I tend to get people
Speaker 1: will still pick me up. And I've noticed you. You
Speaker 1: look the same to me, thank you. Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: at the time when it aired, yeah, I got recognized
Speaker 1: a lot more than I had ever been in my career.
Speaker 1: And I remember my my dad coming to town and
Speaker 1: we were at remember Mrs Gouches before it was wiled
Speaker 1: by Whole food Oh my god, yes, god, Mrs that
Speaker 1: was like that, sor And I remember you never picked
Speaker 1: to that place. You made me go there to get brags. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they had all the good stuff and we were very
Speaker 1: upset that they were being bottled by Whole Foods. I
Speaker 1: remember signing a petition to stop it from happening. It
Speaker 1: didn't work. It didn't work. We didn't get it done.
Speaker 1: Corporate America. What are you gonna do? But um, I
Speaker 1: was saying, Mrs cootch is one time with my dad
Speaker 1: and a few people were pointing in whispering, and I
Speaker 1: knew it was happening, but because they didn't approach me
Speaker 1: or anything, I just kept it moving. And my dad said,
Speaker 1: don't you see those people pointing at you and talking
Speaker 1: to you what I said or pointing at you? And
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, that I do. He goes so soon
Speaker 1: as you go over and talking to me about saying, well,
Speaker 1: if I did that, we wouldn't get anything done. I
Speaker 1: love the fans, but if they come up and they
Speaker 1: acknowledge you, that's when you haven't exchange. But I'm not
Speaker 1: going out of my kna go hey, do you guys
Speaker 1: reckon as me? Right? Yeah, that that would be a
Speaker 1: little weird, but it must have been for you guys,
Speaker 1: like it was huge. So how did you guys deal
Speaker 1: with it? I mean it's always different, Like every it
Speaker 1: seems like every encounter has a different energy about it,
Speaker 1: like a different way to handle it. Right, Like there's
Speaker 1: those fans that you have to give them your undivided
Speaker 1: attention and time because they are so passionate and so devoted,
Speaker 1: and we we love those fans and our show has
Speaker 1: a lot of them, thank goodness. Seel Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's why I think for us it just
Speaker 1: became such a constant way of life, Like I know
Speaker 1: for me, like people would see like your dad seeing
Speaker 1: that people were seeing you. I wouldn't have seen it.
Speaker 1: It just kind of in order to have a normal life,
Speaker 1: like I would just navigate and I didn't even see it.
Speaker 1: It was like, you know, white noise. Yeah, and then
Speaker 1: people would be like, oh my god, those people are
Speaker 1: freaking out. I'd be like what people Like, I didn't
Speaker 1: even notice it. And then when I did, like, of course,
Speaker 1: I would like be with them and say like hi,
Speaker 1: and and give them hugs. But in order to do
Speaker 1: your daily routine, you kind of just had to like
Speaker 1: go through life and not be like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: oh my god, everyone's looking at me. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think um. Somebody told me early on. I can't
Speaker 1: remember who they were talking about specifically, but they said,
Speaker 1: this person is one of the biggest stars in the
Speaker 1: world and they just they do their own grocery shopping.
Speaker 1: They don't have any bodyguards or anything. And he said,
Speaker 1: I think the people that, unless it's a very unique situation,
Speaker 1: the people that don't have bodyguards and just go about
Speaker 1: their lives in a in a regular way are fine.
Speaker 1: It's like the bigger you make of it, the bigger
Speaker 1: it becomes. Like you can attract all that madness if
Speaker 1: you don't navigate that space careful. Very true. I didn't
Speaker 1: know that was even an option back then, to have
Speaker 1: somebody else do your grocery shopping, or to have a bodyguard,
Speaker 1: like we had bodyguards on set in our real life,
Speaker 1: Like we didn't just have a bodyguard as we went
Speaker 1: and did our errands during the day, and we didn't
Speaker 1: have instat cart or like things like that. So yeah,
Speaker 1: you just had to write like you did your own
Speaker 1: grocery shopping, Like what was the alternative? You had to
Speaker 1: put your armor on and go out into the world. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we had. There were times. There were like times when
Speaker 1: it was harder than than other times, and you had
Speaker 1: to kind of adapt and be flexible and give yourself
Speaker 1: a little a little break because it was challenging for
Speaker 1: sure at times, and it still can be like even
Speaker 1: you know, just going out sometimes you gotta like psych
Speaker 1: yourself up. I mean I do, I have to psych
Speaker 1: myself up to go. I'm going out in the world.
Speaker 1: And because I live my life like I'm just a
Speaker 1: normal person. I'm a mom, I have dogs, I run
Speaker 1: my house like I have to do all the things
Speaker 1: like we're normal people. But when you go out and
Speaker 1: then you get recognized, you're like, wait, what, I'm not
Speaker 1: normal like that. It's confusing messaging. Yeah. Yeah, and when
Speaker 1: when you have kids, I think it's even trickier. It is,
Speaker 1: especially when they're little because they don't understand. Like one
Speaker 1: of mine were smaller, they'd be like, we were just
Speaker 1: we're here to have fun. We want to go, you know,
Speaker 1: do this and be at Chuck E Cheese and like
Speaker 1: people were wanting to talk to me and they're like,
Speaker 1: come on, and those are the bands like you can't, yeah,
Speaker 1: be rude. Yeah, they don't get it at their kids. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I remember getting escorted to set one day. There was
Speaker 1: a knock on my door. Um, it might have been
Speaker 1: an episode the second or third episode I did. There's
Speaker 1: a knock on my door and I opened the door
Speaker 1: to the trailer and there were two bodyguards standing there
Speaker 1: and they were like. I was like, hey, they're like
Speaker 1: here to escort you to set. And I was like,
Speaker 1: I think you're ever wrong. Trailer. Jason's trailer's right there,
Speaker 1: and they're like, well, you're seen as with Jason and
Speaker 1: he's gonna need an escort to set. And I was
Speaker 1: like okay, And I really didn't clue in yet until
Speaker 1: I came out of my trailer and then we stopped
Speaker 1: in his trailer, and then the four of us walked
Speaker 1: the set and we were shooting at the high school
Speaker 1: and there were girls on the feds. It was like
Speaker 1: being inside of Beatles footage. They were screaming and crying
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh my god to see it
Speaker 1: up close. And I remember turning to Jason and I said,
Speaker 1: so this is your life and I will never forget this.
Speaker 1: His shoulders went up like this. He just he just
Speaker 1: kind of sighed. We went yeah, and I was like, whoa,
Speaker 1: that's a lot of weight. You could feel the weight
Speaker 1: on him, the weight of celebrity, And in that moment,
Speaker 1: I said to myself, you know, I don't need to
Speaker 1: be crazy famous. I just want to work. I'd rather
Speaker 1: not deal with all of that and just kind of
Speaker 1: be one of those actors that people see and recognize,
Speaker 1: but they don't know who you are. They don't know
Speaker 1: what you see. When they're just like, hey, there's that actor.
Speaker 1: What's his name, what's he been in? But they don't know,
Speaker 1: so you can kind of roll anonymously, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, but I will never forget that moment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think it's still happening today, like you know,
Speaker 1: a famous the Beast, and there's no there's no like
Speaker 1: nobody tells you how to deal with it, and nobody
Speaker 1: tell us how to deal with it. And I think,
Speaker 1: like now, because of the Internet and because we have
Speaker 1: so much exposure to everything, we know, like people that
Speaker 1: are coming up now know what it's going to be like.
Speaker 1: But back then, nobody warned us. Nobody warned Jason and
Speaker 1: Luke what was going to happen to their lives on
Speaker 1: that level. And we just I'm so grateful and proud
Speaker 1: of everybody for making it out alive, you know, just
Speaker 1: getting through it and and and I think everybody dealt
Speaker 1: with it pretty well. Yeah. Yeah, it's uh, it's tricky
Speaker 1: and you you know, going in that it's that it
Speaker 1: could happen. But like you said, there's one book, so
Speaker 1: we should make one. We should write a book. You should.
Speaker 1: How does yeal of fame? Celebrity now is even crazier
Speaker 1: with social media. It's not snill, it's next level. I
Speaker 1: mean I've had the conversation with my son and just
Speaker 1: told him like he did a movie. His first movie
Speaker 1: was Timmy Failure. Mistakes were made and it came out
Speaker 1: on Disney Plus as one of their initial original movies.
Speaker 1: And so he dealt with it at school because everybody
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, there's from Timmy Failure and uh,
Speaker 1: he said, Daddy, you were right, And he said, and
Speaker 1: where kids that came up to me and talked to
Speaker 1: me and wanted to be my friend who never talked
Speaker 1: to me before, you know, ignored me, even kids in
Speaker 1: my own class. And I said, yeah, it's one of
Speaker 1: the downsides that you have to deal with. So you know,
Speaker 1: keep your friends closer and enemies closer. You know, you'll
Speaker 1: know who's genuine and who's not. But I think it's
Speaker 1: a trickier thing, so hard for kids to navigate than
Speaker 1: for adult It's still hard. I still don't sometimes make
Speaker 1: the right choice and don't realize because you want people
Speaker 1: to like you for you, and you forget like, oh,
Speaker 1: I just went into it and I even thought, of
Speaker 1: course they like me for me, and then you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's that. I forgot that part of it. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's hard. So good chatting with you, Mike, so
Speaker 1: great to see your face. We could do this for
Speaker 1: at I love it. It's our favorite thing to do, right.
Speaker 1: We're very appreciative that you came on today with us,
Speaker 1: and the fans will be so happy to get to
Speaker 1: see you and hear what we're talking about with you. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm honored that you guys reached out. I'm glad you did.
Speaker 1: It's good to see you and hopefully in some uh
Speaker 1: when the world returns to his access, maybe we can
Speaker 1: see each other person or something. I know it's true.
Speaker 1: We're gonna set that you and your son get to
Speaker 1: be in a project together. Would be fabulous. Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: all body parts crossed. But I'm definitely gonna channel. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna take I'm gonna take the room my next opportunity
Speaker 1: because of you. Thank you. So good to see you, Jenny. Good,
Speaker 1: good to see you. Thank you back at you. Bye,